"Fire at will," a command that to me means living independently and in the moment. I’m currently living and working in Germany after a year spent studying abroad in this foreign country. I invite you to share in my experience and in my zeal for life, hopefully along the way developing your own desire to live in the moment and to explore this fascinating planet. It’s a fast paced world out there, so double-knot your shoes and try to keep up with me as I fire at will.

15 June 2009

I know that I've been away for awhile now, but after the next several posts I'm sure that you'll understand why. Visits and travels have kept me fairly busy, though of course in a way enjoying way, since the end of my solo travels in March. Few opportunities to post ever presented themselves. By now however life has settled back to whatever normal is for my life abroad, and I have finally found the time to post. I plan to catch you up on all of my travels since March, starting with my trip to southwestern Europe.

As promised, here are several photographs from the trip. As there are too many stories and details for every destination I've visited since March, for this and the next several posts I will mostly leave the telling to the pictures.

A view towards the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan. Think of it as an early shopping mall from the late 1800s.

A view from the piazza in front of Milan's Duomo, cathedral, with another entrance of the Galleria on the left.

A couple attempting to savor their pizza nearby the cathedral in Milan.

Valeria, the friend with whom I was staying in Milan, and I took the stairs up to the roof of the cathedral in order to see the stone wedding cake's spires and statues from a closer perspective.

Another view of the Milan Cathedral from the roof.

A look at the church and former monastery in which one finds Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, The Last Supper. In order to visit it one must have a reseveration, somtimes a month or more in advance. Luckily for me, Valeria had arranged the visit before I arrived.

Here are some faces that might look familar. These are three of the girls who were with me during my first semester in Eichstätt. From left to right is Federica, Valeria, me, and Francesca.

A view down the shop-lined arcades of Turin, Italy.

One more perspective of Turin.

The village of Riomaggiore in the Cinque Terre region of Italy.

A look toward Riomaggiore's tiny harbor.

Riomaggiore

The colorful and dense houses of Riomaggiore

A sunset in Cinque Terre.

The quiet beach I found near Riomaggiore.

A view from the hiking trail that leads from Riomaggiore to the northen most village of the Cinque Terre, Monterosso.

Below are seveal more views I saw during my hike from Riomaggiore to Monterosso--views of the villages along the way and the narrow trail itself.

No, not another look at the Cinque Terre, rather a view of the Principality of Monaco.

Monaco

The most famous street of Barcelona, Spain: Las Ramblas.

Some of the options on sell at Barcelona's St. Joseph's Market, such as sheep's head and cow brains.

The market of course also offers a wide array of fruits and vegetables.

My lunch from the market, along with other tasty things, included baby octopus.

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona's famous unfinished church.

A couple views in La Sagrada Familia.

Another glance inside the work-in-progress church.

The church's architect, Antoni Gaudi, also designed a park in Barcelona full of his twisting and colorful styles.